During Q3 FY 2019, Husqvarna’s entry into the Indian two-wheeler market was confirmed. This was followed by the news of revamping of India based KTM showrooms to occupy and sell Husqvarna models. Now, in Q1 FY 2020 there’s a bit more concrete information available on the same. KTM and Husqvarna Showrooms are ready to go live and work is in progress to make it look different inside out!
There will be quite a few things that will be introduced to the current layout of the dealerships. Most of it is cosmetic and will add up for the Husqvarna entrants. For the first leg, a large amount of metro cities of KTM dealerships will be converted to KTM-Husqvarna showrooms by February 2020. And soon after that, the bikes will go on sale. The remaining dealerships will be refreshed as dual-branded in a phased format from April 2020. The company has planned on converting 350+ dealerships as Husqvarna-KTM till July 1, 2020.
The dealers will be allowed to sell Husqvarna motorcycles only if their showrooms are upgraded as said by our source within the group. The changes to be made consist of the new front portion, walls and reception desk with KTM and Husqvarna logos placed side by side as seen in the pictures. The service centres won’t see much changes apart from the addition of Husqvarna branding to the layout tells our source within Bajaj group.
The production has already begun at Bajaj’s Chakan-based plant, Pune. The Husqvarna line-up for India will expand slowly but for starters what we get is two quarter-litre models from the brand, the Svartpilen 250 and the Vitpilen 250. Both models sport different styling and do it pretty well. The Svartpilen is a scrambler profiled bike and the Vitpilen is a café-racer styled bike. Both of these motorcycles surely turn a lot of heads.
Mechanically, the bikes borrow a lot of technology and cycle parts from the KTM motorcycles, similar to the larger bikes. Without a surprise, the parts being shared include the 248.8cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled mill that is mated to a 6-speed gearbox. Output figures are 31 HP and 24 Nm of torque. The bikes tip the weigh scale as just 153kg dry. KTM and Husqvarna Showrooms will also soon display Chetak’s but that will happen over the year 2020 and 2021 as the electric scooter will be rolled out initially.
